{{Refimprove|date=April 2017}} {{Infobox royalty | name = William I | title = Landgrave of Lower Hesse | image = File:Arms of the house of Hesse (2).svg | image_size = 150px | spouse = Anna of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel | issue = Mathilda<br>Mathilda<br>Anna<br>Katherine<br>Elisabeth | house = House of Hesse | father = Louis II, Landgrave of Lower Hesse | mother = Mechthild of Württemberg-Urach | birth_date = 4 July 1466 | birth_place = | death_date = 8 February 1515 | death_place = Kassel }} '''William I of Hesse''' ({{langx|de|Wilhelm}}) (4 July 1466 – 8 February 1515) was the Landgrave of Hesse (Lower Hesse) from 1471 to 1493.
His parents were Louis the Frank (1438–1471) and Mechthild, daughter of Count Louis I of Württemberg. On 17 February 1488 in Münden, he married Anna of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel c. 1460 - Worms 16 May 1520], daughter of William IV, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Elisabeth, Countess of Stolberg, with whom he had five daughters: * Mathilda, born in 1489 but died young. * Mathilda (born 1490; died 6 May 1558), married in Korbach on 19 May 1527 Konrad, Count of Tecklenburg (born 1493; died 16 August 1557) * Anna (born 1491; died 1513), a nun * Katherine (died 1525), married in 1511 Adam Count von Beichlingen (died Krayenberg 14 July 1538) * Elisabeth [10 September 1503 - Lauingen 4 January 1563], first married in Meisenheim on 16 October 1525 to Louis II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (born 1502; died 1532), later married on 9 January 1541 George, Count Palatine of Simmern (born 1518; died 1569).
After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1491 where he was dubbed a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, he probably contracted syphilis. He abdicated in favor of his brother William II on 3 June 1493, and spent the rest of his life in Spangenberg.
==Literature== *Phillip Landgrebe: ''[http://www.vhghessen.de/inhalt/zhg/zhg_123_2018.htm Der Reisebericht Dietrichs von Schachten]''. In: Zeitschrift für hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde (ZHG), Bd. 123 (2018), p. 177–198 (See the third chapter about the pilgrimage of Wilhelm I.: p. 185–191).
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://mdz.bib-bvb.de/digbib/lexika/adb/images/adb043/@ebt-link?target=idmatch(entityref,adb0430029 Wilhelm I. v Hessen] ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie''. Band 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1906, p. 27. *[http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/ADB:Wilhelm_I._(Landgraf_von_Hessen) Wikisource: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'']
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{{succession box|title=Landgrave of Lower Hesse|before= Louis II |after= William II|years=1471–1493}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:William 01 Of Lower Hesse, Landgrave}} Category:House of Hesse Category:Landgraves of Hesse Category:Medieval child monarchs Category:Medieval Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Category:1466 births Category:1515 deaths
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